The Sovereignty of God

1Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel!

2Thus says Yahweh, "Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.

3For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.

4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.

5They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don't speak: they must be carried, because they can't go. Don't be afraid of them; for they can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good."

6There is none like you, Yahweh; you are great, and your name is great in might.

7Who should not fear you, King of the nations? For it appertains to you; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like you.

8But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.

9There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men.

10But Yahweh is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to withstand his indignation.

11You shall say this to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.

12He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens:

13when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.

14Every man is become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

15They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

16The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is his name.

The Coming Destruction

17Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege.

18For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel [it].

19Woe is me because of my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is [my] grief, and I must bear it.

20My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are no more: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

21For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of Yahweh: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

22The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.

Jeremiah's Prayer

23Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

24Yahweh, correct me, but in measure: not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

25Pour out your wrath on the nations that don't know you, and on the families that don't call on your name: for they have devoured Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.